Marines and Elites

Chapter 1: A Typical Day

Marines

It was more or less an average day at Valhalla base. Howard had seen it fit to put both Ed and Tim on scout duty. This was mainly because Ed had decided to use the rest of the coffee and Tim and Howard couldn't stay in the same room without having a small argument. So now the two were standing on top of the base looking over the canyon.

"Hey Ed." Tim said.

Ed looked at him. "What?"

"Do you ever wonder why we're here?"

It took Ed a few seconds to register what he said. Then he said again "What?"

Tim looked over the canyon. "I mean, being sent here to the middle of nowhere-"

"What? You seriously don't know why we're here?"

"Well yeah. Wait, do you?"

"Yes." Ed looked at Tim quizzically. "They told us in a meeting room before we left."

"We actually talk about stuff in those meetings?" Tim said in surprise. "I fell asleep in my helmet."

"Oh, for God's sake…"

"What's going on?" Howard walked up to the base roof. "Everything alright?"

"Tim doesn't know why we're here." Ed reported.

"Seriously?" Howard looked at Tim, exasperated. "I knew you were stupid but not that stupid."

"Hey, don't judge me!" Tim snapped. "I have very poor concentration skills!"

"You don't say." Ed muttered.

"Tim, have you ever listened to the officials in meetings?" Howard asked.

"No. To me it's all just more of the same."

"More of the same..." Ed said slowly.

"Boredom."

"Ah."

"Okay," Howard explained. "We are here to test UNSC equipment."

"What?!"

"The equipment we get ranges from weapons to vehicles and if they work, then we send them back to command."

"What if they don't work?" Ed asked.

"We melt them into scrap metal."

"Seriously?!" Tim was outraged. "Every other soldier is out fighting the Covenant and we are here testing equipment?!"

"Consider it a blessing." Ed said. "I personally don't fancy fighting aliens."

Howard looked at Tim. It was partly the truth. The reason that they were on a completely different planet to test stuff was because they were all terrible soldiers. He was actually surprised that they hadn't ended up as simulation troopers for Project Freelancer.

"Come on." Tim said. "Fighting the Covenant makes us heroes. Heroes."

"No Tim." Howard countered. "Fighting the Covenant is suicide. They have better weaponry, better vehicles, better food-"

"Alright, alright." Tim was a bit annoyed now. "Still, it would be great to kill at least a Grunt."

"To whom, us, or you?" Ed said.

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, because if it was you then you wouldn't be able to get close enough to kill a Grunt."

"Why not?"

This was an easy question. "Because you are way too much of a coward to-"

"Whoa, whoa! I am not a coward!"

"Yes you are Tim. Probably the biggest coward in the UNSC."

"I am not!"

"Yes you are!"

"Not!"

"Are!"

"Not!"

"Are!"

Howard briefly wondered whether this argument would end at midday or midnight.

Then he decided to try to end it now.

"Okay," he started. "That's quite-"

"Not!"

"Are!"

"Both of you shut up!"

"Not!"

"Are!"

With a sigh of frustration, Howard decided to give up.

"I am not! I swear, the next time I see an Elite or something, I am gonna kill it!"

"Okay, realistically Tim, what are the chances of seeing an actual Elite?" Howard cut in, trying to apply logic to this.

Tim thought about it for a bit, then said "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

Author's Notes

Don't worry, there's more to this. I just bundled together two chapters for this.